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li^fj^h.  J-J  JLJ  Jb^  J=J  S  S -hJ  S 


AT  THE 


INAUGURATION 


OF 


Rev,  EDWARD  LEWIS  CURTIS.  Ph,  D, 


AS  PROFESSOR  IN  THE 


Mccormick  theological  seminary, 


APRIL   etti,  issr. 


hS\l8T 
P5Z 


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l\^\V^ 


AT  THE 


INAUGURATION 


OF 


Rev,  EDWARD  LEWIS  CURTIS,  Ph,  D, 


PROFESSOR  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  LITERA- 
TURE  AND   EXEGESIS, 


MCCORMICK    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 


Of     the     PKESliYTERIAN    ChURCH,     CHICAGO. 


APRIL    6th,     1887. 


CHICAGO; 
Kitttedge  &   Friott,  Printers,   76-78  Market  Street, 


INAUGURATION    EXERCISES. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  INIcCormick 
Thcological  Seminary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  April  iSS6, 
Rev.  Edward  Lewis  Curtis,  Ph.  D.,  who  for  the  past  five  years  had 
acted  as  Instructor  and  Associate  Professor  in  the  Seminary,  was 
elected  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Literature  and  Exegesis.  This 
election  was  approved  by  the  General  Asseml^ly  which  met  in  Minn- 
eapolis, Minn.,  in  May  iSS6.  The  formal  inauguration  took  place  by 
appointment  of  the  Board,  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  April  6th, 
in  the  Chapel  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  Chicago.  The  Order 
of  Exercises  on  the  occasion  was  as  follows: 

Prayer,  by  the  Rev.  J.  F.  JNIagill,  D.  D.,  Fairfield,  Iowa. 

Reading  of  the  Scriptures,  l)y  the  Rev.  James  INIcLeod, 
D.  D.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

SiNGiXG,  by  the  Students. 

The  Ixtroductorv  Address,  by  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Withrow, 
D.  D.,  Chicago. 

The  Charge,  by  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Brown,  President  of  the  Board, 
Springfield,  111. 

Inaugural  Address,  by  Professor  Curtis. 

Benediction,  by  the  Rev.  S.  J.  Nichols,  D.  D.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  Board  of  Directors  requested  the  speidcers  to  furnish  their 
addresses  for  publication.  Dr.  Withrow  was  unalile  to  comply  with 
this  request. 


THE    CHARGE 

BY 

Hon.  C.  C.  Brown,  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 


THE  TEACHER  OF  THE  PREACHER. 


"All  thy  children  shall  be  taught  of  God,"  is  the  claim  which 
inspiration  makes  for  the  members  of  the  church  in  gospel  times.  An 
intelligent  piety  is  to  prevade  and  distinguish  the  church  of   Christ. 

This  does  not  imply  that  the  loaf  is  to  be  placed  high  on  the 
shelf,  or  that  the  teaching  shall  be  such  as  to  make  it  hard  for  him 
that  runneth  to  read,  or  for  the  fool  to  understand,  but  that  the  people 
shall  be  so  taught  of  the  Lord  as  not  merely  to  be  saved,  but  to  be  a 
power  unto  salvation  as  well.  It  requires  no  great  amount  of  knowl- 
edge to  be  a  saved  christian.  But  it  requires  some  intelligence,  some 
acquaintance  with  the  knowledge  of  divine  things,  to  be  a  useful 
christian,  a  christain  of  importance  and  value.  Hence  the  New  Tes- 
tament church  is  to  have  this  distinguishing  feature,  her  children  shall 
all  be  taught  of  the  Lord.  More  is  to  be  expected  of  the  rank  and 
file,  the  members  of  the  church,  under  the  gospel  dispensation,  than 
in  former  times.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  there  are  many  christians  of 
this  day,  who  try  to  divorce  intelligence  from  faith — many  who  do 
not  hesitate  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  evidences  which  substantiate 
Christianity,  to  decry  and  depreciate  the  studv  of  them,  and  to  pro- 
nounce that  study  unnecessary;  and  yet  they  extol  faith,  and  cry  to  the 
multitude,  "believe,  believe,"  without  offering  a  reason  for  the  faith 
that  is  in  them. 

As  an  eminent  writer  has  justly  said,  "This  is  like  driving  to  the 
door  of  a  hungrv  family  a  bullock  and  inviting  them  to  eat  without 
any  preparation  for  their  necessites  or  tastes."  This  is  not  the  intelli- 
gent faith  that  is  inculated  and  applauded  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  not 
the  faith  that  has  destroyed  so  many  false  systems  and  beliefs  in  the 
ages  of  the  past,  that  has  built  churches,  founded  great  institutions  of 
Larning,  carried  the   gospel   to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and   made  the 


name  of  christian  honored  and  respected  in  the  world,  and  precious  in 
the  sight  of  God. 

God  would  have  his  children  drink  deep  from  the  boundless 
ocean  of  his  grace,  to  draw  into  his  very  presence;  he  would  not  have 
them  walk  in  darkness  but  in  the  radiance  of  heavenly  light. 

If  the  people  of  God  are  to  be  taught,  and  a  more  intelligent  piety 
j^revaii  in  the  church  in  order  to  its  advanced  usefulness,  then  how 
important  that  those  who  are  to  be  called  to  be  God's  immediate  instru- 
ments in  teaching  his  people,  should  be  well  fitted  and  equipped  for 
instructing  the  people.  God  has  his  plan  of  teaching  the  people,  the 
priest's  lips  must  not  only  keep  knowledge  but  be  able  to  give  it 
forth.  "  The  church  is  the  divinely  appointed  agency  for  saving  sin- 
ners, the  preacher  is  the  great  moral  and  religious  educator" — he  is 
the  Lord's  messenger,  wdio  is  to  receive  the  word  at  his  mouth,  and 
give  it  to  the  people,  but  the  preacher  must  be  taught  also.  If  the 
mantle  of  Elijah  falls  on  Elisha,  the  teaching  of  Elijah  must  fall  on 
the  young  man.  He  must  go  from  the  school  of  the  prophets  and 
not  from  the  workshop,  the  plow  handles,  or  the  other  pi'ofessions  of 
life,  and  he  must  take  with  him  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  The  power 
and  success  of  the  preacher  will  always  depend  upon  how  his  theo- 
logical teacher  has  furnished  and  equipped  him  for  his  work. 

The  occasion  which  brings  us  together  fittingly  leads  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  theme — the  teacher  of  the  preacher,  what  should  he 
be?  Time  will  permit  the  mention  of  but  a  few  of  the  necessary 
qualifications. 

First  of  all  he  must  be  a  man  of  God — he  must  comprehend  by  faith 
the  riches  in  Christ  Jesus,  in  whom  all  fullness  dwells — he  must  grow 
in  grace,  at  the  end  of  each  year,  each  month,  each  day — he  should 
be  able  to  report  progress,  to  be  more  and  more  sensible  of  the  presence 
of  God  than  ever  before.  The  hopes  engendered  in  his  heart,  the  bless- 
ings received  in  his  walk  with  Christ  on  earth,  and  the  happiness  in 
store  for  him  in  the  world  to  come,  should  impel  him  to  declare  to  the 
young  men  in  his  care,  surrounded  as  they  are  by  the  allurements  and 
the  temptations  of  the  world,  that  if  the}^  would  have  this  hope,  this 
joy,  this  comfort,  and  have  fellowship  with  God  and  his  son  Jesus 
Christ,  they  must  walk  worthy  of  the  high  vocation  wherewith  they 
are  called. 

He  should  be  an  artist  in  his  way  or  rather  in  his  work.  As  the 
artist  stands  above  the  amateur  as  being  professionally  interested  in 
any  line  of  study,  so  the  teacher  of  preachers  should  not  be  a  novice 
at  his  work  any  more  than  the  preacher  at  his.     He  should   not  only 


have  the  taste  or  attachment  for,  Init  the  grace  and  art  of  the  business, 
and  in  imparting  his  knowledge  to  others,  he  must  be  patient — patience 
is  the  daughter  of  faith.  The  troubles,  the  cares,  the  disappointments 
of  this  life  call  for  the  exercise  of  his  grace. 

When  the  mother  of  John  Wesley  was  engaged  in  teaching  a 
verse  of  Scripture  to  her  children,  her  husband  said,  "I  wonder  at  your 
patience,  you  have  tolil  the  chiUl  twenty  times  the  same  thing."  "Had 
I  mentioned  the  matter  only  nineteen  times,"  replied  that  noble  woman, 
"I  should  have  lost  all  my  labor." 

Line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept  should  he  the  motto  of 
every  good  teacher.  The  mind  often  cannot  be  impressed  and  yet 
may  drink  in  knowledge  at  certain  times. 

It  is  related,  I  think,  of  Dr.  Spring,  that  grand  pulpit  orator  and 
preacher,  that  he  was  called  to  the  bed-side  of  a  dying  man — a  man 
of  large  mental  cajDacity  and  engaged  in  the  railroad  business,  who 
had  listened  to  his  preaching  for  a  long  term  of  years.  He  besought 
the  doctor  to  tell  him  the  plan  of  salvation.  The  doctor  had  been 
thundering  from  the  pulpit  in  his  hearing  for  numy  years  the  doctrine 
of  salvation,  whilst  he  was  thinking  of  railroads,  stocks,  and  bonds. 

I  knew  a  lady  of  line  literary  attainments,  the  daughter  of  a 
celebratetl  clergymen,  converted  in  earh'  youth,  so  ecstatic  over  a  ser- 
mon on  the  love  of  God  that  she  declared  that  her  father  and  all  the 
ministers  she  had  ever  heard,  had  failed  to  preach  on  that  subject — antl 
3'et  her  father  with  a  power  few  preachers  possess,  had  set  forth  in 
her  hearing  time  and  again  that  love  in  burning  words,  and  brought 
thousands  to  the  cross  of  Christ. 

The  theologian  Is  to  be  made  yery  much  through  the  medium  of 
language,  this  is  the  vehicle  of  ideas,  the  track  on  which  mental  fur- 
niture is  to  be  shipped  from  the  store-house  of  the  teacher  to  the 
brain  of  the  scholar.  An  acquaintance,  therefore,  not  onlv  with  the 
science  of  language,  but  with  its  art  is  necessary,  and  the  teacher  shc^uld 
not  onlv  kno\v  himself,  but  the  man  whom  he  is  trying  to  furnish,  not 
simply  what  his  mental  capacit\-  is,  but  what  are  the  principal  avenues 
to  his  nature. 

We  often  talk  of  "-getting  the  hang  of  the  house,""  \yhich  is  no 
small  difhculty,  but  getting  the  "hang"  of  the  man  in  making  preachers 
is  quite  as  important,  and  in  order  to  know  ones  self,  to  know  our  own 
character  aright,  we  must  first  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  that  of 
God,  for  it  is  in  his  light  that  we  see  light  clearly.  Men  of  real 
ability  arc  often  pronounced  failures  simply  because  thcv  are  not 
understood.      The  eminent  professor  Orfila  was  asked  the  precise  dose 


of  poison  it  would  be  safe  for  a  fly  to  take.  He  replied,  "  I  should 
want  to  know  something  about  the  particular  flv  under  treatment,  his 
size,  age,  health,  habits  of  life,  whether  married  or  single  and  what 
were  his  surroundings  in  life."  Surely,  if  a  flv  deserves  so  much 
study  for  wise  treatment,  an  immortal  soul  preparing  for  the  ministrv 
needs  to  be  understood  and  carefully  studied. 

The  teacher  or  preacher  in  order  to  be  a  power,  must  have  what  the 
^vorld  calls  common  sense,  without  this  desirable  furniture  of  the  mind, 
talents,  genius,  great  learning,  will  be  of  little  avail.  This  sense  is  not 
attained,  so  much  by  the  studv  of  books  as  by  intercourse  with  men, 
by  studying  their  characters  in  all  the  vocations  of  life,  and  by  some 
attention  to  the  practical  business  affairs  of  the  \vorld — in  other  words 
it  is  that  sense  that  gives  us  the  power  to  reject  or  repel  that  force 
which  would  interfere  with  healthy  thought  and  actions — it  is  that 
power  of  self-balance  or  self-regulation  ever  ready  to  be  utilized 
when  occasion  demands — it  is  that  250wer  which  enables  us  to  hold  the 
furniture  of  the  mind  in  subjection  and  thus  produce  a  state  of  ecpii- 
poise  until  we  are  able  to  choose  the  wisest,  safest  and  best  course — 
some  may  call  it  wisdom  from  intuition,  but  it  is  sharpened  and  seconded 
by  reflection  and  investigation. 

How  often  do  we  see  men  of  great  learning,  in  all  professions  of 
life  unable  to  utilize  their  powers  for  want  of  this  particular  talent. 
We  must  ask  for  this  wisdom  from  the  Father  of  Light  with  the  full 
assurance  that  He  will  not  withhold  any  good  thing  from  His  children. 
That  ^\•as  not  a  vain  prayer  which  ]SIr.  Aloody  offered  some  years  ago, 
when  he  was  annoyed  beyond  measure  by  a  brother  gifted  in  many 
respects,  and  }et  destitute  of  this  wisdom,  when  he  prayed  in  the 
brother's  presence  that  the  Lord  would  give  brother  B.  a  little  more 
common  sense. 

Finally,  the  teacher  of  the  preacher  should  not  be  satisfied  with 
merely  storing  the  intellect  with  the  treasures  of  knowledge.  Intel- 
lectual furniture  there  must  be,  and  the  times  call  for  full  ecjuipment 
here,  but  this  is  not  the  end  chiefly  to  be  desired.  It  is  not  with  the 
intellect  merely  that  men  come  to  saving  faith.  Culture  and  educa- 
tion are  desirable,  but  earnest  piet}'  more  important  still — the  heart 
must  be  changed,  the  affections  raised  to  God.  The  Lord  does  not  say, 
Except  ye  be  intelligent,  except  vc  be  cultured.  But,  Except  ye  be 
converted,  ye  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven — with  the  heart 
men  believe  unto  righteousness.  The  education  of  the  heart,  the  af- 
fections, should  be  a  prime  work  with  the  theologian.  Sir  INIathew 
Hale  in  sj^eaking  of    his    intellectual    endowments   said,   "I    have    not 


esteemed  them  the  best  furniture  of  my  mintl,l)ut  liave  accounted  them 
but  dross  in  comparison  with  the  Ivnowlcdge  of  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 
fied." Teachers  with  heads  there  must  be,  but  there  is  a  heart 
qualification  which  is  the  principal  thin^-.  A  garden  maybe  enriched, 
and  yet  the  weeds  will  grow  ranker  than  on  the  sterile  soil  that  sur- 
rounds it — culture  of  the  intellect  merely  does  not  bring  men  to  Christ. 
"Let  no  man  deceive  himself."  "If  any  man  among  you  seems  to  be 
wise  in  this  world,  let  him  become  a  fool  that  he  may  be  wise."  "For 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with  God."  "Know  ye  not 
that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in 
you.  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy, 
for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy  which  temple  ye  are."  "Taste  and  see 
that  the  Lord  is  good."  "Eat,  O  friends,  drink,  yea,  drink,  abun- 
dantly, O  beloved."  "Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters."  "Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory."  These  verses  plainly 
teach  us  that  religion  is  to  be  best  experienced  in  the  heart. 

My  Dear  Buotiier:  The  directors  of  the  McCormick  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  having  confidence  in  your  scholarship,  in  your  piety, 
in  your  zeal  for  the  church  of  Christ,  believing  you  to  be  in  full 
harmony  and  in  love  with  the  doctrines  of  the  church  with  which  we 
are  connected,  have  unanimously  called  you  to  one  of  the  important 
chairs  of  this  institution.  The  directors  do  this  with  the  full  assurance 
that  you  will  perform  its  duties  with  credit  to  yourself  and  to  the 
institution. — Never  has  the  institution  been  better  equi^jped  for  work; 
through  the  liberality  of  Cyrus  McCormick,  his  executors,  and  especi- 
ally the  liberality  of  his  noble  wife,  who,  in  sunshine  and  in  storm,  has 
ever  been  the  friend  of  this  institution,  it  stands  to-day,  in  point  of 
equipment,  equal  to  any  in  the  land. — I  charge  you  to  preach  the  Word, 
let  no  uncertain  sound  emanate  from  its  portals,  let  its  walls  ever  re- 
sound in  the  years  to  come  with  praises  to  the  most  high  God — keep 
it  in  harmony  with  our  beloved  church  and  make  it  a  home  for  young 
men,  however  lowly,  who  desire  to  carry  the  news  of  salvation  to  a 
lost  world.  The  time  is  short,  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can 
work,  be  diligent,  be  faithful  unto  death. 

"We  live  in  deeds,  not  years. 

In  thoughts,  not  breaths, 

In  feeling,  not  in  figures  on  the  dial, 

We  should  count  time  by  heart  throbs. 

He  lives  most,  who  thinks  most, 

Feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best," 


INAUGURAL   ADDRESS 

BY 

Rev.  Edward  Lewis  Curtis,  Ph.  D. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  FOR  OUR  TIMES. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Directors : 

The  subject  that  I  have  chosen  for  this  evenhig  is  one  suggested 
by  the  professor's  chair  into  which  I  have  just  been  inducted.  It  is, 
The  Old  Testament  for  Our  Times. 

We  live  in  a  period  of  special  interest  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Men  are  working  on  and  investigating  that  portion  of  God's  Word  as 
never  before.  Many  causes  have  led  to  this.  The  Bible  as  a  whole,  is 
being  studied  to-day  more  than  ever.  This  is  because  Christ's  spirit 
of  saving  the  lost  is  so  active  within  the  church,  and  the  multitude 
is  increasing  of  those  eager  to  know  of  that  which  tells  of  Him. 
This  age  also  is  pre-eminently  protestant.  Now  Protestantism  means 
the  Bible  as  supreme  authority  in  reference  to  faith  and  practice,  and 
the  right  of  free  inquiry,  touching  the  Bible  along  with  everything 
else.  Men  to-day  are  not  satisfied  in  simply  receiving  old  statements 
of  religious  truth.  They  ask  after  the  basis  of  them.  Many  desire 
also  statements  which  shall  not  be  marked  so  much  by  human  reason, 
as  by  the  fresh  stamp  of  the  Word  of  God.  There  is  a  wide  spread 
feeling  that  theology  may  have  become  too  much  a  philosophical  sys- 
tem, rather  than  a  simple  expression  of  the  teachings  of  the  Word. 
Hence  a  so-called  Biblical  Theology  is  demanded,  and  in  search  of 
this  the  Old  Testament  is  being  studied. 

Special,  outside  causes  also  have  led  to  this  great  interest  in  the 
Old  Testament.  The  sacred  writings  of  all  people  are  now  being 
carefully  investigated  in  connection  with  the  new  science  of  compara- 
tive religion.  The  pursuit  is  intense  to  know  the  primitive  faiths  of 
the  world.  Hence  the  Old  Testament  is  studied  from  a  purely 
scientific  point  of  view,  to  classify  and  bring  into  line  the  religion  of 
the  ancient  Hebrews. 


There  is  great  interest  also  just  now  in  the  vSemitic  languages. 
Now  all  the  literature  of  one  of  these,  the  Hebrew,  save  a  few  inscrip- 
tions, is  found  in  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  are  its 
classics.  Hence  linguistically,  they  have  a  great  importance.  The 
Greek  scholar  need  have  but  little,  if  any  acquaintance  with  the  New 
Testament,  but  the  HelM-ew  scholar  must  know  the  Old.  He  cannot 
find  anything  else  to  read. 

Modern  discovery  also  has  helped  in  this  direction.  They  read 
like  a  romance,  those  results  of  eastern  exploration,  that  the  spade  and 
pick  have  brought  to  light  writings  four  millenniums  old,  and  that  we 
now  know  that  Moses  might  have  used  documents,  had  he  wished, 
written  five  hundred  years  before  he  penned  a  line  of  the  Pentateuch.  ' 
This  Babylonian  literature  thus  discovered  has  man}-  points  in  common 
with  the  Old  Testament.  Its  language,  having  a  close  affinity  to  the 
Hebrew,  helps  us  to  understand  Hebrew  phrases  and  gives  new  thought 
to  Hebi-ew  words.  There  have  been  found  narratives  of  similar  sub- 
ject with  statements  strikingly  parallel  to  some  in  Genesis;  Psalms  of 
the  same  structure  and  not  unlike  in  sentiment  to  those  of  David;  and 
again  and  again  records  of  the  names  of  Israel's  kings  and  events  of 
Israel's  history.  ^  A  new  setting  has  thus  been  given  to  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  it  forms  a  part  of  the  most  fascinating  field 
of  historical  research  and  investigation. 

Then  also  the  Christian  conception  of  the  Bible  as  containing  the 
revealed  Word  of  God  runs  counter  to  the  modern  deistic  or  rather 
agnostic  view  of  the  world,  and  this  may  possibly  lead  some  to  study 
the  Old  Testament  with  the  intention  of  undermining  Christian  faith, 
and  men  of  the  church  study  to  save  their  faith  and  refute  infidel 
objection. 

Hence,  from  all  these  causes  there  is  now  especial  interest  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Its  study  is  in  the  air.  Is  there  now  anything 
providential  in  this?  Does  this  study  fit  into  any  present  need?  Will 
it  bear  any  special  fruit  of  lesson  or  truth  adapted  to  the  immediate 
hour?  Or  in  other  words,  is  the  Old  Testament  significantly  for  our 
times?  I  think  it  is.  As  containing  a  divine  revelation  it  is,  of  course, 
for  all  times.  As  a  book  of  rich  and  precious  consolation,  as  long  as 
there  are  troubled  and  heavy  hearts  here  on  earth,  it  will  find  a  place. 
The  church  can  never  do  without  its  precious  promises.  "When  thou 
passeth  through  the  waters  I  will  be  with  thee:    and  through  the  rivers 

1.  See  Art.  Babylonia  Ency.  Brit.  0th  Ed. 

2.  See   Schrader'8  Cuneiforni   luscriptions  and    Ch^yaeV^    Tran-^lation     of    the    P.?alms. 


they  shall  not  overflow  thee."  '  The  church  can  never  do  without  its 
pi"ecious  experience.  "The  Lord  is  my  shepherd  I  shall  not  want."  = 
The  Psalms,  the  songs  of  Israel,  are  as  much  read  as  any  other  por- 
tion of  God's  word.  They  comfort,  they  nerve,  they  sustain;  they  are 
the  cry  of  the  thankful  shouting  for  joy,  of  the  distressed  wailing  from 
the  depths  of  despair,  of  believers  humbly  conscious  of  their  own  in- 
tegrity, and  of  believers  penitent  and  weighed  down  with  a  sense  of 
guilt.  The  harp  of  David  sends  forth  an  infinite  variety  of  sounds 
expressing  every  emotion  of  the  believer's  heart.  The  law  also  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  always  in  place.  Sinai  must  always  stand  oppo- 
site Calvary;  the  knowledge  of  sin,  over  against  the  knowledge  of 
salvation. 

I. 

The  church  also  can  never  do  without  its  testimony  for  Christ. 
This  leads  to  the  first  specific  point  which  I  present.  The  Old  Tes- 
tament is  for  our  times  as,  A/i  Evidc7icc  of  Christiaiiity. 

In  this  it  fits  into  a  special  need  of  to-day  which  calls  so  loudly 
for  the  foundations  of  belief,  and  demands  a  review  of  all  testimonies 
for  truth.  Blot  out  the  Old  Testament,  then  we  blot  out  one  of  the 
strongest  reasons  whv  we  should  accept  the  statements  of  the  New, 
and  believe  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  both  man  and  God.  The 
resurrection  of  Christ  needs  the  evidence  of  the  Old  Testament  looking 
forward  to  that  event.  I  need  not  recall  how  often  it  is  appealed  to 
in  the  New  Testament.  Neither  also  is  the  belief  in  the  incarnation 
easil}'  reasonable  without  the  preparation  for  it  found  in  these  old 
writings.  The  words,  the  thoughts  of  Israel's  prophets,  the  significant 
events  of  Israel's  history,  the  belief,  the  hope  of  that  ancient  people, 
there  embodied,  are  historic  facts,  and  stand  as  an  impregnable  fortress 
of  our  Christian  faith.  These  sacred  records  were  written  long  before 
Christ  came,  and  their  testimony  of  Him  is  unshaken  by  any  school  of 
criticism.  For  however  men  may  distort  their  narratives  and  shift 
from  century  to  century  their  composition,  still  here  the}'^  are,  written, 
I  repeat,  long  before  Christ  came,  and  presenting  a  wonderful  con'es- 
pondence  between  Him  and  them..  No  criticism  can  ever  wash  that 
out.  Suppose  Moses  did  not  write  the  proto  evangclium,  or  the  promise 
given  to  Abraham  (although  the  evidence  points  to  their  origin  in 
Scripture  through   him  ),  yet   some   one  wrote   them,  some  one,  and 

1.     Is.  XLIII,  2.  2.     Ps.  XXIII.,  1. 


even  if  at  the  time  of  the  exile,  then  by  the  power  of  God,  knowing 
the  purpose  that  God  did  have  at  the  beginning  of  man's  history  and 
Israel's  history;  giving  also  that  which  as  a  beam  of  hope,  a  ray  of 
light,  must  have  been  there,  for  there  was  one,  ever  advancing,  growing 
brio-hter  and  brighter  in  anticipation,  taken  up  by  one  and  another  in 
story  and  song,  until  at  last  it  broke  forth  realized  in  the  one  who 
said,  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world,"  and  to  whom  we  now  look  back, 
as  they  looked  forward.  Suppose  Isaiah  did  not  draw  that  wondrous 
portrait  of  the  man  of  sorrows,  acquainted  with  grief,  who  should  yet 
see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied,  yet  some  one  did.  The 
picture  was  given  by  the  power  of  God,  revealing  a  divine  purpose, 
dimly  understood  and  comprehended, it  may  be,  until   there   appeared 

its  counterpart the  vicarious,  suffering  Messiah,  the  risen  and  glorified 

Redeemer.  Thus  it  is  with  all  Old  Testament  teachings  and  history. 
The  lines  of  their  prefigurement  of  and  preparation  for  Christ  and 
Christianity  can  never  be  obliterated.  They  are  like  the  stars  set  in 
the  etherial  blue.  They  shine  undimmed  and  undisturbed  by  theories 
of  astronomers.  Prof.  Patton  has  well  refused  to  make  even  the 
utterly  unwarranted  reconstructions  of  Jewish  history  proposed  by 
Kuenen  and  Welhausen,  the  logical  warrant  for  denying  the  super- 
natural character  of  Christianity,  saying:  "For  Judaism,  however 
explained,  is  genetically  related  to  the  Christian  religion."  "IMen  may 
refuse  to  believe  that  God  appeared  to  Moses  and  delivered  to  him  a 
most  completed  system  of  jurisprudence  and  a  complex  sacrificial 
ritual.  But  they  cannot  ignore  the  correspondence  between  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New."  '  The  candid  historical  scholar  cannot 
resist  the  belief  that  Je^vish  history  w  as  a  series  of  preparations  for 
Christ's  advent.  Even  if  one  should  endeavor  to  reject  the  inspiration 
of  the  book  that  records  this  history,  he  cannot  doubt  the  inspiration 
of  the  history  itself.  God  was  there.  Finding  God  thus  in  the  his- 
tory will  lead  one  also  to  find  him  in  the  writing  of  the  Book.  For 
the  Book  and  the  history  are  one. 

This  studv  of  the  Old  Testament  will  do  tlien  for  apologetics 
that  which  has  been  accomplished  l)y  the  recent  study  of  the  New. 
This  latter  has  given  us  the  true  historic  Christ.  This  former  will 
give  us  the  true  historic  Israel,  prophetic  of  Christ. 


1.    Pres.  Rev.,  vol.  IV  ,  p.  360. 


11. 

The  study  of  the  Old  Testament  in  its  relation  to  the  New  teaches 
us  the  important  and  especially  timely  lesson  of  Modesty  in  the 
Interpretation  of  Scripture.  The  Old  Testament  is  not  the  New. 
In  part  it  was  of  the  Israel  of  Canaan  and  has  been  outgrown  and 
supplanted,  or  rather  filled  up  and  completed,  certain  elements,  like  the 
husk  or  shell  of  ripening  fruit  falling  away.  The,  "But  I  say  unto 
you,"  has  taken  the  place  of  the,  "It  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old 
time."  This  has  been  recognized  in  the  church  from  the  beginning. 
It  is  too  plainly  taught  in  the  New  Testament  to  be  denied.  It  has 
caused  men  even  to  think  the  Old  of  little  importance  and  scarcely 
w^orth  studying.  That  this  is  a  mistake  I  need  not  argue.  Old  Testa- 
ment study,  however,  reveals  another  fact  in  this  connection  well 
worth  heeding — that  is  the  limitations  of  divine  revelation  and 
the  relativeness  of  the  divine  word.  We  are  warned  against  abso- 
lutely pressing  the  statements  of  Scripture  into  the  four  corners  of 
their  literal  meaning,  and  declaring  that  we  know  exactly  how  the 
future  purposes  of  God  will  be  realized.  "The  Pentateuch  knows 
nothing,"  says  Oehler,  "of  a  future  change  in  the  law,  or  of  an 
abrogation  of  it  even  in  part."'  The  various  statutes  given  to  Moses 
are  represented  as  perpetually  binding  in  their  force.  The  specific 
day  of  the  passover  was  to  be  observed  by  specific  ordinance  forever.  ^ 
The  priesthood  of  Aaron  was  an  everlasting  priesthood.  3  The 
ordinance  of  clean  and  unclean  persons  was  a  perpetual  statute.-*  And 
yet  how  many  of  these  in  form  have  been  completely  set  aside. 
Promises  and  predictions  also  concerning  the  Messiah  have  not  in  their 
letter  been  realized  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  never  bore  the  name 
Wonderful  Counselor,  Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father,  Prince  of 
Peace:  He  never  sat  upon  the  throne  of  David,  his  father,  in  a  literal 
sense.  He  never  brought  political  {^eace  to  his  people.  He  was  a  far 
different  person  from  that  which  an  honest  and  candid  and  de\'out 
study  of  Old  Testament  scripture  might  have  led  one  to  expect.  The 
story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  his  life  and  death  never  could  have  been 
written  beforehand;  only  after  he  had  appeared,  after  he  had  lived  and 
died  and  risen,  was  it  seen  how  thus  were  to  be  fulfilled  the  promises 
of  Israel.  Pro2:)hecy  is  known  then  only  through  its  fulfillment.  The 
final    purposes  of  God,  save  in  great  outline,  are  unknown  and  hidden 

1.  Old  Testament  Theology,  g  97.  3.     Ex.  XL.,  15. 

2.  Ei.  XII.,  13.  4.    Num.  XIX.,  10,  21. 


15 

to  us.  We  have  not  yet  reached  the  end  of  Divine  Revehition.  The 
Old  Testament  church  stootl  waiting  for  the  Messiah,  with  the  confi- 
dence expressed  in  the  words  of  the  .Samaritan  woman,  "When  he 
is  come,  he  will  tell  iis  all  thin<^s."  '  Christ  came,  but  he  has  not  told 
us  all  things.  The  New  Testament  apart  from  its  historic  facts  and 
their  explanation,  advances  very  little  beyond  the  Old,  save  in  a  fuller 
revelation  of  divine  love  and  of  a  future  life.  .So  we  await  Ilis  glori- 
ous second  coming,  live  in  that  blessed  hope,  and  learn,  I  trust,  to  be 
modest  in  our  interpretations  of  Scripture  and  our  claims  of  fully 
imderstanding  the  Word;  learn  to  take  that  which  is  clear  and  un- 
mistakable, that  about  which  the  church  has  in  all  ages  been  of  one 
mind,  and  to  leave  the  rest  outside  of  the  realm  of  authoritative 
dogmn,  to  be  matters  of  2^i'i\''^te  thought  and  meditati<jii. 


HI. 

The  Old  Testament  impresses  upon  us  also  The  Importance  and 
Significance  of  this  life.  It  has  been  thought  strange  bv  many 
that  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  had  so  little  to  sav  concerning  the 
life  beyond.  Various  reasons  have  been  given  for  this  fact.  Some 
have  assumed  that  a  conception  of  a  future  and  immortal  state  was  as 
vivid  and  clear  to  the  ancient  Hebrews  as  to  us,  and  that  this  is  alwa\s 
to  be  presupposed  in  reading  those  records,  that  no  mention  of  it  was 
made  because  none  was  needed.  This  is  a  mistake.  Consider  the  sad 
pathetic  words  of  the  Psalmist^  clinging  to  life,  of  Hezekiah  when  he 
said : 

"The  grave  cannot  praise  thee,  death  cannot  celebrate  thee: 
They  that  go  down  into  the  pit,  cannot  hope  for  thy  truth. 
The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee  as  I  do  this  day. "3 

These  could  not  have  been  written  bv  those  who  had  the  full  New 
Testament  hope  and  belief.  The  New  Testament  also  denies  full 
Christian  knowledge  and  assurance  to  the  past.  Jesus  Christ  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light.4  It  is  wrong,  however,  to  go  to  the  other 
extreme  and  deny  to  the  Old  Testament  writers  a  belief  in  a  future 
life.  Death  with  them  was  not  an  eternal  sleep.  Death  also  did  not 
leave  them  mere  shades  wandering  aimlessly  on  another  shore.  No, 
stronger  than  death  was  the  love  of  Jehovah,  and  with  him  there  must 
be  life  hereafter. 

1.  Jno.  IV.,  25.  3.     Is.  XXXVIII.,  18,  19. 

2.  Ps.  VI.,  5.  4.     I.  Tim.  I.,  10. 


i6 

'•'•Gocl  will  redeem  my  soul  from  the  j^ower  of   Sheol, 
For  he  shall  recci\e  me."' 

There  is  no  idle  speculation  aliout  this  future  state.  Firm  faith 
rested  in  this  assurance  and  therewith  was  content.  This  life  was 
the  all  important,  and  no  destiny  was  known  that  did  not  grow  out 
of  this.  Here  then  is  a  needed  thought,  when  men  are  prone  on 
the  one  hand  to  find  a  second  probation,  and  on  the  other  to  em- 
phasize to  such  an  extent  divine  forgiveness  and  the  final  entrance 
into  gloiy,  so  as  to  make  it  appear  that  it  made  no  difference  whether 
a  life  had  been  all  wasted  and  thrown  away,  and  then  at  the  last  moment 
saved,  or  whether  from  the  beginning  it  had  been  full  of  noble  con- 
secration and  ser\icc.  The  Old  Testament  preaches  the  necessity  of 
right  li\ing  based  upon  a  right  heart.  There  is  no  mere  legalism. 
The  source  of  all  is  divine  grace:  God  calling, yet  being  called;  God 
knowing,  3'et  being  known;  God  loving,  yet  being  loved;  the  heart, 
the  disposition,  is  everything.  There  is  no  magical  formula  of  intel- 
lectual knowledge  or  of  external  rite. 

"Thus  saith  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  I 
dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite 
and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble  and  to  revive  the 
heart  of  the  contrite  ones."  2 

The  rapture  of  the  New  Testament  is  not  found  in  the  Old.  We 
are  not  transported  with  Paul  to  the  third  heavens,  but  there  is  a 
granileur,  a  solemnity,  a  heroism,  in  the  conception  of  the  true  life 
linked  to  Jehovah,  reminding  one  of    the  familiar  lines: 

"A  sacred  burden  is  the  life  ye  bear. 
Look  on  it,  lift  it,  bear  it  solemnly. 
Stand  up  and  walk  beneath  it  steadfastly." — 

A  conception  needed  in  this  age  of  so  much  mawkish  gush  and  senti- 
mentality, and  which  is  the  keynote  of  so  much  of  the  best  preaching 
of  the  present  day,  which  emjDhasizes  continually  ciiaractkr. 


IV. 


The  Old  Testament  enters  also  into  Sympathy  ivith  the  Anxious 
Str//og-lcs  of  Men  over  the  Mysteries  of  Life.  Possibly  these  struggles 
are  no  more  to-day  than  they  ever  have  been,  and  yet  they  seem  so. 
Men   to-day   think.      They   are   not   like  dumb,  dri\en   cattle,  blindly 

1.     Ps.  XLIX.,  15.  2.     Ts.  LVII.,  15. 


17 

accepting  the  traditions  of  the  past.  The  scientific  investigation  of 
both  physical,  mental  and  moral  phenomena,  has  placed  them  in  a  new 
world.  Their  thought  environment  is  all  different  from  that  of  their 
fathers.  And  they  are  asking  with  pathetic  earnestness,  what  is  life? 
Through  the  wide  reaching  philanthropy,  that  Christ-like  mark  of 
our  day,  has  come  up  also  the  old  question,  old  and  yet  ever  new,  of 
the  problem  of  evil,  and  above  all,  why  do  the  innocent  suffer.  This 
now  is  the  thought  of  the  book  of  Job,  and  in  that  grand  and  match- 
less poem  I  find  Gpd's  imprint  of  sympathy  with  all  those  who  wrestle 
to-day  with  these  dark  problems,  and  I  find  also  the  only  remedy,  God. 
This  old  revelation  does  not  brush  aside  with  scorn  the  anguish  and 
bittei'ness  of  souls  who  find  it  hard,  very  hard,  to  submit  to  God's 
dealings.  Nay,  it  tells  out  the  whole  experience.  There  is  the  sad 
cursing  of  the  dav  of  birth,'  the  heart-rending  longing  that  life  mught 
never  have  been,^  the  bold  complaint  against  God: 

"Know  now  that  God  hath  subverted  me  in  my  cause. 
And  hath  compassed  me  with  his  net. 
Behold  I  cry  out  of  wrong,  but  I  am  not  heard: 
I  cry  for  help,  but  there  is  no  judgment."  3 

Full  utterance  thus  is  given,  and  though  in  the  end  there  is  condemna- 
tion for  lack  of  faith  and  submission,  yet  a  still  severer  condemnation 
is  spoken  against  those  self-appointed  teachers,  who  insisted  on  the 
application  of  their  peculiar  dogma,  and  wondered  why  their  suffering 
friend  did  not  through  it  give  God  the  glory.  Of  a  similar  tenor  also 
Is  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  that  strange  riddle  to  many,  which  seems 
with  its  sad  refrain,  "Vanity  of  vanities  all  is  vanity,"  more  full  of 
skepticism  than  faith,  and  echoes  that  discontent  which  lurks  at  times 
in  nearly  every  soul  and  finds  expression  in  all  literature.  Appropriate 
now  for  us  is  this  voice  coming  from  the  Word  of  God,  for  while  men 
in  all  ages  have  thus  sung,  yet  to  our  age  has  it  been  reserved  to 
elevate  this  pessimistic  mood  into  a  powerful  system  of  philosoj^hy, 
and  this  book  brings  us  into  sympathy  with  this  mood,  shows  us  its 
reality,  and  gives  us  a  clew  of  how  we  may  help  men  out  of  the  same. 
Yes,  as  a  recent  commentator  has  said:  "Those  who  study  it  will  find 
that  it  meets  and  has  we  may  believe  been  providentially  designed  to 
meet  the  special  tendencies  of  modern  philosophical  thought,  and  that 
the  problems  of  life  which  it  discusses  are  those  with  which  our  daily 
experience  brings  us  in  contact.  And  if  they  feel,  as  they  will  do,  that 
there  is  hardly  any  book  of  the  Old   Testament  which  presents  so 

1.     Job  III.,  3  ft.  2.     Job  III.,  11  ff.  3.    Job  XIX.,  6,  7. 


i8 

marked  a  contrast  in  its  teaching  to  that  of  the  Gospels  or  Epistles  of 
the  New  Testament,  they  will  yet  acknowledge  that  it  is  not  without 
a  place  in  the  Di^■ine  Economy  of  Revelation,  and  may  become  to  those 
who  use  it  rightly,  a  school-master  leading  them  to  Christ."' 

I  believe  the  church  has  not  generally  apprehended  the  full  and 
true  meaning  of  these  old  writings.  They  ai-e  not  profitable  to  every 
mind,  but,  since  found  in  the  Word  of  God,  it  has  been  often  thought 
that  in  some  way  they  must  be.  Hence  they  have  been  placed  on  the 
procrustean  bed  of  allegory  and  compelled  to  teach  almost  everything 
that  fancy  could  suggest,  instead  of  being  taken  just  as  the}-  are,  the 
bitter  experiences  of  s,ouls,  tossed  and  baffled  by  the  problems  of  this 
life,  to  reveal  unto  us  how  God  sympathizes  with  such  souls,  how  he 
would  have  us  deal  with  them,  and  how  he  may  even  use  them  to  tell 
us  of  him. 

V. 

The  Old  Testament  presents  notes  of  warning  also  touching  upon 
the  great  Social  }^//cstio?i  of  Our  Day. 

The  dangers  of  a  material  civilization  rise  and  loom  before  us. 
One  class  of  people  are  growing  richer,  richer;  another,  relatively 
poorer  and  poorer.  Men  are  crowding  into  cities.  These  are  becom- 
ing the  centres  of  a  luxurious  and  effeminate  civilization.  This  now 
was  much  the  case  in  the  latter  days  of  Israel  and  Judah.  Men  slept 
on  couches  of  ivory  ;^  they  had  music  and  wine;3  they  speculated  in 
grain  ;4  they  cheated  ;4  they  acquired  great  estates,  buying  up  all  the 
land  in  their  neighborhood  ;5  they  imported  foreign  articles  of  luxury  -^ 
they  oppressed  the  poor;?  their  wives  and  daughters  were  decked  out 
in  the  most  extravagant  style. ^  All  this  life,  centered  in  Jerusalem 
and  vSamarin,  was  a  miniature  of  that  going  on  in  our  own  land.  It 
threatened  destruction.  The  prophets,  the  preachers  of  those  olden 
times,  made  then  these  evils  the  subject  of  their  earnest  warnings,  and 
herein  they  are  a  needed  model  for  our  own  day.  We  need  ethical 
preachers,  men  who  will  arouse  the  public  conscience;  an  Elijah  to 
denounce  Ahab's  crime  against  Naboth,9  which  has  been  repeated  so 
often  by  the  strong  white  man  against  the  poor  Indian;  an  Isaiah  to 
say  woe,  not  simply  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to  drink  wine,'°  but 
also    woe    unto    them    that  join   house  to  house  and  lay  field  to  field,, 

1.  Cambridge  Bible  for  fchool-.     Ecclesiaffes  by  E.  E.  Pluiiiptre,  P.  D.,  p.  11,  12. 

2.  Am.  VI.,  4.        4.     Am.  VIIL,  5.         6.     Is.  II.,  6,  7.  8.     Is.  III.,  16  ff.        10.     Is.  V.,  22. 

3.  Am.  VI.,  5.         5.     Is.  V.,  8.  7.     Mic.  III.,  2,  3.       9.     I.  K.  XXI.,  17  ff. 


19 

until  they  be  made  to  dwell  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  land,'  a  woe 
against  grasping  monopolies  of  every  sort;  a  Jeremiah  to  intercede  in 
behalf  of  the  man-servant  and  the  maid-servant  ;2  an  Amos  to  threaten 
divine  punishment  ujoon  those  that  have  sold  the  righteous  for  silver 
and  the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes,  that  pant  after  the  dust  on  the  head 
of  the  poor;3  those  who  will  combine  to  force  up  the  price  of  food  or 
fuel,  taking  bread  from  the  mouth  of  the  hungry  and  heat  from  the 
body  of  the  cold.  These,  not  to  mention  others,  are  needed  voices  that 
come  to  us  from  the  Old  Testament. 

Worthy  of  consideration  also  are  the  principles  of  land  tenure  of 
the  Mosaic  law,*  which  commanded  a  reversal  of  landed  property  at 
the  end  of  everv  half  century  to  the  original  owners,  thereby  keeping- 
it  in  the  hands  of  small  individual  holders,  preventing  the  accumulation 
of  great  estates  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  degradation  into  aliject 
poverty  on  the  other.  Suppose  these  principles  had  been  in  someway 
insisted  upon  by  the  church  in  the  days  of  her  direct  power  in  the 
past,  is  it  too  much  to  surmise  that  the  land  question,  which  has  been 
at  the  bottom  of  so  manv  woes  and  wrongs  in  Europe,  might  never 
have  been  ?  This  legislation  may  be  called  ideal,  or  fitted  only  for  an 
ideal  state  or  condition  of  affairs,  yet  it  presents  an  ideal  needed  for  our 
own  times,  of  a  golden  mean  between  opulence  and  want;  a  mean  ex- 
pressed in  the  prayer  of  Agur, 

"Give  men  either  poverty  nor  riches; 
Feed  me  with  the  food  that  is  needful  to  me; 
Lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee,  and  say,  Who  is  the  Lord? 
Or  lest  I  be  poor  and  steal, 
And  use  profanely  the  name  of  my  God.'s 

This  golden  mean  according  to  the  Old  Testament  is  intimated  to 
be  the  goal  of  humanity,  for  not  only,  "Nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more,  but  they  shall 
sit  every  man  under  his  vine  and  vmder  his  fig  tree."^  No  mere 
legislation  can  bring  this  about.  The  Gospel  of  repentance  and  faith 
in  Christ  is  the  sole  remedy  for  the  woes  of  mankind,  but  that  Gospel 
carries  with  it  certain  ethical  teachings,  touching  all  phrases  of  social 
and  civil  life,  which  gradually  are  formulated  and  enter  into  the  con- 
sistencies of  a  true  Christianity.  These  must  be  sought  for,  according 
to  the  need  of  the  hour,  in  the  whole  Word  of  God,  and  the  Old 
Testament  has  its  contributions  in  this  direction. 

1.  Is.  v.,  8.  3.     Am.  II  ,  6,  7.  5      Prov.  XXX.,8,  9. 

2.  Jer.  XXXV.,  8  ff.  4.     Lw.  XXV.,  8-34.  6.    Mic.  IV  ,  3,  4. 


20 


VI. 


Another  idea  needed  for  our  times  is  that  of  The  Immanence  of 
God.  He  has  been  too  often  conceived  of  as  simply  transcendent. 
That  has  been  the  drift  of  modern  thouj^ht,  Paley's  watch  picked  up 
on  the  sand  has  suggested  not  only  a  designer,  but  as  applied  to  the 
universe,  a  designer  who,  having  finished  his  work,  cast  it  aside  to  be 
governed  and  run  by  the  power  and  machinery  placed  within,  he  him- 
self being  so  remote  as  to  be  unknown,  if  not  unknowable.  Thus 
the  very  argument  which  would  tell  us  of  the  existence  of  a  God, 
has  been  turned  in  the  opposite  direction,  not  to  bring  him  near,  but 
to  remove  him  afar.  The  true  conception  is  given  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  finds  God,  not  simply  the  Creator  of  the  universe,  but 
ever  present  therein.  The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  has  a  counterpart 
in  Psalm  CIV.  Creation  in  the  beginning  by  an  absolute  fiat  passes 
over  into  an  unfolding  preservation  by  a  continued  presence. 

"Yonder  is  the  sea,  great  and  wide, 
Wherein  are  things  creeping  innumerable. 
Both  small  and  great  beasts. 

There  go  the  ships;  [therein. 

There  is  the  leviathan,  whom  thou  hast  formed  to  take  his  pastime 
These  wait  all  upon  thee. 

That  thou  mayest  give  them  their  meat  in  due  season. 
That  thou  givest  unto  them  they  gather: 
Thou  openest  thy  hand,  they  are  satisfied  with  good. 
Thou  hidest  thy  face,  they  are  troubled ; 
Thou  takest  away  their  breath,  they  die, 
And  return  to  their  dust. 

Thou  sendest  forth  thy  spirit,  they  are  created; 
And  thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  ground."' 

"The  whole  universe  exists  in  God,  as  the  stars  in  the  ether,  as 
the  clouds  in  the  air,  the  whole  universe  floats  on  the  pulsing  bosom 
of  God."^  Nature  is  his  outer  garment.  All  her  movements  are  of 
him,  the  thunder  is  his  voice,3  the  lightning  from  his  mouth,'^  the 
«arthcjuake  his  anger,5  the  light  his  garment,^  the  clouds  his  chariot, 7 
the  winds  his  messengers,^  the  ice  from  his  breath. 9  His  throne 
is  above  the  cherubim,  symbols  of  the  living  powers  of  nature.  But 
he  is  never  identified  with  nature.  His  immanence  is  not  pantheistic. 
He  giveth  life  to  all,  is  the  life  of  all,  is  in  all  natural  phenomena,  but 
is  independent,  apart,  separate,  and  Lord  of  all. 


1. 

Ps.  CIV.,  25-30. 

4. 

Ps.  XVIII.,  8. 

7. 

Ps.  CIV.,  3. 

2. 

A.  A.  Hodge,  Pres.  Rev.  Vol.VIII.,  p.  10. 

5. 

Ps.  XVIII.,  7. 

8. 

Ps.  CIV.,  4. 

3. 

Ps.  XXIX.,  3. 

6. 

Ps.  CIV  ,  2. 

9. 

Job  XXXVII., 

,10. 

21 

No  natural  scene  or  object  in  the  Old  Testament  is  ever  pictured 
for  its  own  sake,  to  leave  the  impression  of  itself.  The  Psalmist 
gazes  at  the  starry  heavens  by  night,  he  views  the  wondrous  march  of 
the  sun  by  day,  but  his  words  are  no  j^en  pictures  of  these  brilliant 
objects:  no,  these  are  nothing  in  themselves,  only  in  their  grandeur 
speaking  silently  of  God.  Beauty  of  form,  harmony  of  color,  were 
conceptions  foreign  to  the  Hebrews.  Ezekiel's  cherubim  defy  artis- 
tic representation.  The  creations  of  Job,  his  magnificent  description 
of  a  war-horse  for  example,  suggest  no  pictorial  treatment.  Indeed 
that  may  be  said  to  refuse  to  come  within  the  power  of  brush  or  pencil. 
The  reason  is  because  the  description  is  given  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
horse,  but  to  awaken  religious  remotion.  This  is  the  highest,  the 
truest  study  of  nature,  God  ever  there.  This  is  much  needed  in  the 
present  day,  when  in  science,  in  art,  in  literature,  the  dominant  schools 
are  realistic,  and  everything  is  presented  for  its  own  sake  and  nothing 
higher.  There  must  be  scientific  exactness,  every  line  must  be  perfect, 
but  there  need  be  nothing  which  shall  touch  once  the>soul  and  liftmen 
God  ward. 

VII. 

For  this  reason  we  are  glad  also  that  the  Old  Testament  is  being 
Studied  as  a  Literature.  It  is  needed  as  a  welcome  tonic;  for  in  litera- 
ture men's  aims  are  becoming  dwarfed  as  much  as  in  art.  The  popular 
writers  of  to-day  are,  as  one  has  said,  "photographic  literateurs,  who 
do  not  create  ideally,  who  leave  out  such  grand  themes  as  justice,  holi- 
ness and  devotion;  to  whom  the  beauty  of  holiness  is  no  concern;  men 
who  will  amplify  a  mouse  or  analyze  a  passion  with  utter  indifference." ' 
The  Old  Testament  stands  as  the  highest  literature  of  the  world  to 
counteract  this  tendency.  Its  study  then  ought  to  be  encouraged  as 
such.  The  Holy  Ghost  gave  its  thoughts  often  a  high  literary  finish, 
we  may  believe,  not  without  this  object  in  view.  It  should  come  a  sa 
classic  into  our  school  rooms.  Why  confine  ourselves  to  the  literature 
of  the  peoples  who  have  given  us  art  and  law,  and  omit  that  of  the 
one  who  has  given  us  religion  ? 

The  Old  Testament,  as  the  whole  Bible,  is  not  to  be  made  an 
unnatural  and  unreal  book,  by  attaching  it  exclusively  to  hours  of  de- 
votion and  detaching  it  from  the  experiences  of  ordinary  life.  "The 
study  of  the  Bible"  says  one,  "will  inevitably  lead  to  holy  and  devout 

1.     w   H.  Ward  in  the  ludeppndent,  Dec.  i»,  If^Sti, 


thoughts,  will  bring  the  student  to  the  presence  of  God  and  his  Christ, 
but  it  is  a  sad  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Bible  can  be  approached 
only  in  special  frames  of  mind  and  with  peculiar  preparation.  It  is 
not  to  be  covered  as  wath  a  funereal  pall  and  laid  away  for  hours  of  sor- 
row and  affliction.  It  is  not  to  be  regard  with  feelings  of  bibliolatry, 
which  are  as  pernicious  as  the  adoration  of  the  sacrament.  It  is  not  to 
be  used  as  a  book  of  magic,  as  if  it  had  the  mysterious  pow-er  of 
determining  all  questions  at  the  opening  of  the  book.  It  is  not  to  be 
used  as  an  astrologer's  horoscope  to  determine  from  its  words  and 
letters,  the  structure  of  its  sentences  and  its  w'ondrous  symbolism, 
through  seeming  coincidences,  the  fulfilment  of  Bibical  prophecy  in 
the  events  transpiring  about  us  or  impending  over  us.  The  Bible  is 
no  such  book  as  this, — it  is  a  book  of  life,  a  real  book,  a  people's  book. 
It  is  a  blessed  means  of  grace  when  used  in  devotional  hours,  it  has 
also  holy  lessons  and  beauties  of  thought  and  sentiment  for  hours  of 
leisure  and  recreation.  It  appeals  to  the  aesthetic  and  intellectual  as 
well  as  moral  and  spiritual  faculties,  the  whole  man  in  his  whole  life. 
Familiarity  with  the  Bible  is  to  be  encouraged.  It  will  not  decrease 
but  rather  enhance  the  reverence  with  which  we  ought  to  ajoproach 
the  Holy  God  in  His  Word.  The  Bible  takes  its  place  among  the 
master  pieces  of  the  world's  literature.  The  use  of  it  as  such  no  more 
intcrfers  with  devotion  than  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  architecture 
and  music  prevent  the  adoration  of  God  in  the  worship  of  a  cathe- 
dral. Rather  the  varied  forms  of  beauty,  truth  and  goodness  displayed 
in  the  Bible  will  conspire  to  bring  us  to  Him,  who  is  the  centre  and 
inspiration  of  them  all."' 

VIIL 

I  mention  but  one  other  aspect  in  which  Old  Testament  words 
are  profoundly  significant  for  our  times.  I  refer  to  those  touching 
upon  the  great  work  of  the  church  in  this  present  hour.  The  Evangeli- 
zation of  the   World. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  there  are  no  promises  of  the  world's 
conversion  in  the  New  Testament,  only  Christ's  command  to  preach. 
But  why  there  such  promises?  The  Old  Testament  was  the  Scripture 
of  those  days,  and  it  is  full  of  them.  The  one  given  to  Abram :  'Tn 
thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."-  Did  that  mean 
the  meagre,  narrow,  small  blessing  of  a  little  handful  snatched  out 

1.     Briggs'  Biblical  Study,  pp.,  4,  5.  2.     Gen.  XII.,  3. 


and  saved?  Did  that  mean  the  blessing  of  having  the  gospel  preached, 
witnessed,  to  save  a  few  and  harden  the  many,  making  their  dan"mation 
the  greater?  That  is  not  the  Old  Testament  conception.  "Blessed 
be  Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyi'ia  the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel 
mv  inheritance."'  The  arch-enemies  of  God's  people,  the  great 
powers  of  the  world,  are  to  be  one  with  them. 

"Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  thee  the  nations  for  thine  inheritance. 
And  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  th}'  possessions. ■"'^ 

"I  will  also  give  thee  a  light  for  the  Gentiles, 
That  thou  maycst  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end  of  the  earth. "3 

"The  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea."*  These  were  the  promises  given  to  Israel; 
these  are  the  promises  given  to  us.  What  courage,  what  hope,  what 
zeal  should  the  church  then  have?  The  horizon  of  God's  word  is 
roseate  with  the  morning  glow.  The  realization  of  our  Saxiour's 
prayer,  "Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven,"  is  assured. 

With  this  I  close:  adding  only  that  it  has  not  been  my  intention 
to  present  the  main,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  or  the  most  salient 
and  important  features  of  the  Old  Testament,  l)iit  onl\-  those  corre- 
sponding to  the  special  thought  and  need  of  this  hour,  not  to  the 
general  thought  and  need  of  every  hour.  Had  I  purposed  to  present 
the  latter,  I  should  have  dwelt  especially  upon  the  doctrine  of 
Redemption,  and  spoken  of  the  scarlet  and  golden  cord  which  binds 
all  Scripture  together; — scarlet,  telling  of  the  life  that  must  be  offered 
for  sin;  golden,  telling  of  the  love-covenant  that  no  faithlessness  can 
break. 

Wondrous  indeed  is  this  Old  Testament.  It  takes  us  back  to  the 
beginning,  "When  the  morning  stars  sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of 
God  shouted  for  jov."5  It  carries  us  forward,  with  all  its  sad  tales  of 
man's  fall  and  Israel's  perversity,  with  an  unfolding  revelation  of 
divine  love  and  redemption,  to  the  sublime  outlook  of  a  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  death  swallowed  up  fore\er,  tears  wiped  away  from 
off  all  faces. 6  ^Liy  God  give  me  grace  and  wisdom  to  unfold  it 
ariirht. 


1.     Is.  XIX  ,  25.  3.     Is.  XLIX.,  6.  5.     XXXVIII  ,  7. 

■2.     Ps.  II  ,  S.  4.     Is.  XI.,  SI.  6.     Is.  XXV  ,  8. 


BS1187.P92 

Addresses  at  the  inauguration  of  Rev. 

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